Our Recovery Curriculum Approach

 In addition to the highest standards of education, we are committed to supporting the emotional health and wellbeing of our pupils and staff. We have a supportive and caring ethos and our values (Positivity, happiness, Kindness, Safety, Learning, Respect) promote this.

At Aqueduct Primary we know that everyone experiences life challenges that can make us vulnerable and at times, anyone may need additional emotional support, none moreover than during the challenging times our school community are currently experiencing as a result of Covid-19. We take the view that positive mental health and wellbeing is everybody’s concern and that we all have a role to play.

At our school we:

• Have a wellbeing committee which supports both adults and pupils to feel safe and supported
• have regular visits from Billy 'the antibullying' Bear who listens to pupils' worries
• Help children to understand their emotions and feelings better
• Help children feel comfortable sharing any concerns or worries
• Help children socially to form and maintain relationships
• Promote self esteem and ensure children know that they count
• Encourage children to be confident and accept challenges which may mean making mistakes
• Help children to develop emotional resilience and to manage setbacks

We promote a mentally healthy environment through: 

• Promoting our school values and encouraging a sense of belonging
• Promoting pupil voice and opportunities to participate in decision-making
• Celebrating academic and non-academic achievements through weekly achievement assemblies
• Providing opportunities to develop a sense of worth through taking responsibility for themselves and others
• Providing opportunities to reflect

We pursue our aims through:

• Universal, whole school approaches
• Support for pupils going through recent difficulties including bereavement
• Specialised, targeted approaches aimed at pupils with more complex or long term difficulties including Attachment Disorder

Teaching about Mental Health

The skills, knowledge and understanding needed by our students to keep themselves mentally healthy and safe are included as part of our developmental RSE curriculum. We have a whole school approach to the teaching of mental health and wellbeing which is then supplemented by our Future in Minds Programme delivered to staff by the Local Authority.

Targeted support

The school will offer support through targeted approaches for individual pupils or groups of pupils through our ‘Healthy Minds’ programme. These approaches may include:.

• Targeted use of subject specific resources e.g. bereavement resources.
• Managing feelings resources e.g. ‘worry boxes’ and ‘worry monsters’
• One to one or group interventions provided
• Primary Group Work/Mental health and wellbeing groups
• Therapeutic activities including art, lego and relaxation and mindfulness technique
• Use of Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSA) to deliver 1:1 or small group support

For specific information regarding our Recovery Curriculum approach to learning in other subjects, please visit our skills documents for each phase that set out how we have approached our return to a ‘normal’ curriculum by the end of autumn 2021.